Ideologies represent categorized sets of belief systems about the nature of the world and human society.
Belief systems have existed since humans first developed cognitive abilities, but the term “ideology” was not categorized in a formal way until the French Renaissance period, when the understanding of ideologies evolved from purely religious and metaphysical beliefs, to rational systems of ideas.
Coined in 1796 by Antoine Destutt, the term “ideologie” was defined as the “science of ideas”.
Modern ideologies emanate from a combination of religious, theoretical or empirical frameworks about the desired structure of human organization. They seek to explain the present and the past while projecting a certain set of ideals about the future.
Political parties adopt ideologies as a way of structuring their vision, policies and creating ideological identities.
Ideologies are mainly normative, since they primarily involve beliefs about “how things should be”, though they originate about views that attempt to describe the present and the past.
Ideologies arise around certain sociological contexts. When contexts evolve, ideologies tend to either adapt or dissolve.
Ideologies can be based around fixed principles but hold flexible goals, or rigid when ideals fail to adapt to new scientific evidence and real world circumstances, turning from a rational set of beliefs to dogma based on appeal to authority and emotion, rather then reason.
The left-right pendulum originated from the French Revolution when members of the National Assembly were divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left.
This evolved into the left being associated with “regime change”, and the right with “status quo preservation”.
The left-right paradigm evolved with the introduction of Marxist ideals in the 19th century, the move away from monarchies, feudalism and the rise of new societies. Ideologies today encompass ideals about property rights, distribution of wealth, resource ownership, private liberties, law, and communal traditions and values.